Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new Cabinet, launched Tuesday, appointed Kenichiro Ueno as health, labor and welfare minister and Hitoshi Kikawada as minister for children and population issues, but did not include a minister specifically in charge of elderly or disabled affairs, leaving those areas under the health ministry’s broader welfare framework.
The mother of Tetsuya Yamagami, indicted for killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a handmade gun in Nara in 2022, will go to court as a defense witness, it was learned Wednesday. In the final pretrial arrangement proceeding held the same day, Nara District Court decided to have five witnesses testy for Yamagami, 45, and seven others for the prosecution as requested by the two sides, respectively.
Sanae Takaichi, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was elected prime minister Tuesday in the House of Representatives to become Japan’s first female leader, backed by the party’s new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, amid political flux caused by growing multiparty dynamics.
Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who led Japan from 1994 to 1996 and was known for his wartime apology and advocacy of an inclusive welfare society, died of old age Friday at a hospital in Oita Prefecture at 101, according to local reports. As the first socialist leader in nearly 50 years, Murayama urged in his 1994 Diet address the creation of “a society in which everyone, including the enfeebled and the disabled, can participate as an independent individual.”
In two separate incidents in Japan, vulnerable residents of care facilities tragically lost their lives under disturbing circumstances. In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, a 38-year-old woman with disabilities died in December 2022 after suffering severe burns from overly hot bathwater during staff-assisted bathing. Three employees of the Hitakami-en facility have been referred to prosecutors for professional negligence resulting in death, as the water temperature was found to be dangerously high. Meanwhile, in Tsurugashima, Saitama Prefecture, two elderly women were found dead on October 15, hours after being discovered bleeding and unconscious in their care facility.
In December 2022, a 38-year-old female resident of a support facility for people with disabilities in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, died after suffering severe burns during a bath assisted by staff. On October 15, police referred three employees of the “Hitakami-en” facility—a male supervisor and two female caregivers—to prosecutors on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. According to the facility’s accident report, although the surface temperature of the bathwater was measured at 40°C, it had not been stirred, and the actual temperature is believed to have been around 50°C. The woman was in the bath for five minutes before being transported to a hospital, where she died three days later.
Two female residents of an elderly care facility in Tsurugashima in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, were confirmed dead Wednesday morning, hours after they were found bleeding and unconscious there. At around 4:55 a.m., an emergency call from the facility reported the two women lying injured. They were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Investigating the case as a possible murder, the Saitama prefectural police department apprehended a former facility employee in his 20s on Wednesday morning.
The city of Hachioji in western Tokyo has expanded its SOS Network — a system used to help locate missing residents — to include people with intellectual disabilities and others in need, following the death of a 16-year-old boy last year. Previously limited to elderly residents with dementia, the program allows families to register photos and physical details of vulnerable individuals so police, transport staff, and volunteers can be alerted instantly if they go missing. The move was prompted by the case of Daijiro Kubota, who left home without his GPS-equipped phone and was later found dead in a river in Yamanashi Prefecture. His parents and local advocates urged authorities to prevent similar tragedies, leading Hachioji to broaden eligibility this summer. While over 80 percent of municipalities nationwide operate SOS networks, only a few, such as Kushiro and Sagamihara, currently cover people with intellectual disabilities.
A long-running bus service for people with disabilities in Saitama Prefecture will be discontinued at the end of the fiscal year due to a shortage of drivers and the wider availability of lift-equipped charter buses from private operators, the prefectural government said. The Oozora-go, a 40-seat bus donated over decades by Musashino Bank, has served thousands annually since 1973, offering affordable group travel for disability organizations. Advocates have expressed disappointment, saying the service promoted social participation for people with disabilities, while Governor Motohiro Ōno said the prefecture will consider alternative measures in light of user feedback and social changes.
The number of children diagnosed with developmental disorders has risen sharply on Miyako Island in recent years, with pesticide-related groundwater contamination suspected as a possible cause. While the issue has become a major concern among local residents, it has received little to no coverage in national media. Similar cases of groundwater, river and tap water contamination have also been reported in other parts of Japan in recent years, suggesting the problem may be more widespread.
Barrier Free Japan